Pretty bad looking apartment/flat for someone with money
I know we only see the main room and a little bit of the bedroom, but that is one bad looking flat. Perhaps that is why Margot is worth more dead then alive, she kept it all in the bank.
sharekevin-bergin wrote:
but that is one bad looking flat.By what standards? Do you have information about the rental real estate market in London in the early 50s? A lot of housing in London was destroyed during the Blitz, and it is unlikely to been replaced by the time of the film.
There are parts of Manhattan in which that would be an extraordinarily expensive apartment today, and probably no parts in which it would be inexpensive.
share
Certainly apartments in large capital cities are never cheap.
However, ground floor, one bedroom and the classiest looking furnishing were those scissors.
Yeah, pretty bad.
kevin-bergin wrote:
ground floorIn a building without an elevator -- you know that such things exist, right -- the ground floor may be at a premium.
the classiest looking furnishing were those scissors.You are certainly more sensitive to such things than I am.
Yeah, pretty bad.Are you telling me that you are familiar with the situation in London in the early 50s? Or are you basing your judgment on your own experiences in a different country at a different time?
You have heard of World War II, right? You've heard of the bombing of London, right? You think that everything was back to normal in a little over five years?
In any event, unlike in the United States, the British have a clearly defined class system so that people do not have to use their apartment or their furniture to assert their status.
They also tend to have a different sense of style. What you regard as classy, they might well have regarded as tacky.
share
Just saw it again on TCM. The living room chair, that Ray Milland sits on, is very yard sale-ish.
sharekevin-bergin wrote:
The living room chair, that Ray Milland sits on, is very yard sale-ish.Your yard sale item is someone else's treasure that they have had for years and love.Not everyone is as obsessed with new furniture as you are, and not everyone feels that their status depends upon their furniture.And, as I've pointed out before, this was right after World War II. The English economy was a mess and furniture production was probably not a priority.You seem to be saying, "If I had money, I would have better furniture," but that is just your subjective judgment, and it really has nothing to do with the movie. share
That may not have been their ONLY residence.
That was just Tony and Margot's London apartment, they may well have had a big house in the country as well where they spent their weekends, holidays etc.
Also you have to remember that during that time property and accommodation was in severe short supply in cities in Britain. A single man would have found it nigh on impossible to have got his own apartment (even if he could afford it), he would have had to share a property with about five others, or would have to take a room in what was called a 'residential hotel' where dozens of working men and women would have lodged.
Even married couples had to share properties then with one couple living in the back of the house and the other couple living in the front of the house. It was what people did then.
Altho73 wrote:
Also you have to remember that during that time property and accommodation was in severe short supply in cities in Britain.
When the London Blitz finally ended . . . Across Britain, two million homes had been damaged or destroyed, but the majority of these were in the capital, where 1.5 million people were homeless.military-history.org/articles/world-war-2/blitz-ww2.htmRebuilding residential housing in London during the war was not a priority. It took quite a while after the war. The country was destitute. share
Four room ground floor flat, with separate kitchen, a bathroom and a garden would have been quite a good find even ten years after the war.
A lot of people would have been sharing a bathroom out on the landing with other flat dwellers, and had their bed in the corner of the sitting/living area.
Also, they live in Maida Vale - that's well posh!
I don't know much about inflation but you wouldn't get much there under a million pounds now.
Goodnight, good luck and may your God go with you